Brayan Zavala, Graphic DesignerWith the growing popularity of inspiration sites like Pinterest, Behance and Designspiration, designers have the option of using other people's work as their sole source of inspiration. Stanley Hainsworth's book, “Idea-ology: The Designer's Journey: Turning Ideas into Inspired Designs,” explains the difference between inspiration, influence and imitation. His book is a collection of interviews of designers, illustrators and typographers and their design processes. He explains how they look to the world rather than to other designers’ work for inspiration. This book is a great reminder to step away from the computer explore the world around us.

Brandon Storz, Technical DeveloperI’m finishing up “Do More Better,” a book on productivity. With the many responsibilities I have, I want to manage my time efficiently. The author, Tim Challies, does not endorse a strict structure, as happens in similar books. Rather, he emphasizes priority management, teaches some broad guidelines and shares what tools work for him. His goal is to encourage you to use something so you can do more, better. I tend to get burned out on strict workflows and stop using any system at all after a while, so I find Challies’ approach to be liberating.